The results make so much difference with respect to the conversations and the build-up before a Test match. The first day of the Edgbaston Test was all about India playing a defensive line-up, that it was a desperate call and the coach Gautam Gambhir wasn’t cut out for this role having lost seven out of nine previous Tests.
But five days later, a first-ever win at Edgbaston and a confirmation of Jasprit Bumrah returning to the line-up for Lord’s Test and India find themselves suddenly in La La Land.
They say don’t change you winning combination but Bumrah will come back, has to come back. India might find it very hard to leave out Akash Deep now but they will have to think about Mohammed Siraj’s workload. Does he sit this one out or in Manchester?
India’s bowlers did better at Edgbaston as compared to Headingley but if you take a closer look at the numbers and the figures of individual bowlers, yes the tourists did take 20 wickets but 17 of them were shared between just two bowlers – Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj. If the Lord’s track is expected to get drier after the third day and maybe spin, India might be better off with someone like Kuldeep Yadav in the mix, a genuine wicket-taking spinner and have someone like Dhruv Jurel shore up the batting a bit.
But since India are coming off a win, would they make so many changes? However, the combination does beg the question, if actually it was a match-winning one? India managed to win despite the lack of balance and their hand might be forced to stick with it, at least for the Lord’s Test even though Nitish Kumar Reddy had a poor outing.
The rest of the line-up picks itself with probably the only other question being on Karun Nair’s place. Yes, despite the wickets being as flat as they have been, Nair hasn’t gotten runs. He has gotten starts, but at least he has looked there and thereabouts and has been really solid with his catching in a critical position like the first slip. So, India wouldn’t mind giving him one more chance, with a win in the bag last week.
India’s predicted playing XI for third Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy/Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar/Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj